The present invention relates to cigarette moistening devices and components thereof.
It has long been recognized that the deleterious effects of cigarette smoking may be mitigated at least to some degree by moistening the cigarette, and particularly the end of the cigarette proximate to the smoker. Thus, in a filter cigarette, the filter itself can be moistened. The moistened cigarette end or filter tends to absorb harmful constituents from the tobacco smoke.
It is generally not practical to pre-moisten cigarettes prior to distribution and sale. Accordingly, various devices have been proposed heretofore for use by the individual smoker in moisturizing either the entire cigarette or the filter alone. Burbig, U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,632, discloses a moisturizer in the form of a generally cylindrical squeeze bottle. The bottle is provided with a cylindrical receptacle for receiving the filter end of a cigarette, and holding the cigarette so that the cigarette is generally coaxial with the container. A needle mounted within the cylindrical receptacle impales the cigarette filter, so that fluid dispensed from within the bottle, as by squeezing, will be forced into the filter and moisturize the same. Kotuby et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,995, discloses a rather complex device including an elongated cylindrical cigarette receiving receptacle, an elongated needle disposed within that receptacle and an external housing surrounding the receptacle. The external housing has various components adapted to hold a small, generally cylindrical aerosol dispenser unit having a hollow actuator stem so that the axis of the dispenser unit extends generally parallel to the axis of the cigarette receiving receptacle. Other components are provided for connecting the hollow stem of the aerosol dispenser with the needle. In use, a cigarette is impaled on the needle and the aerosol dispenser is actuated by moving the aerosol dispenser relative to the external housing. Fluid from the dispenser flows through the hollow stem of the dispenser and through the needle into the cigarette.
These and other devices developed heretofore for moistening cigarettes have not been widely accepted in the marketplace because they have not been particularly convenient to carry and/or use. Typically, these devices have been ill suited to one-handed operation, and hence have been ill suited to use in situations where one hand is required for other activities, as, for example, while driving an automobile or the like. Moreover, many of the moistening devices proposed heretofore have been rather bulky and cumbersome. Also, many of the devices proposed heretofore have been relatively expensive and hence have been unsuitable for sale as disposable items.